Keepin' Cool

This summer has been HOT! HOT! HOT! I think the highest we reached was 109-felt like the surface of the sun. Typically, it is mid to upper 90s. When it's this hot, we spend lots of time in the water (pools, lakes, backyard water fun) trying to keep cool. When that fails, we buy 3 box fans that tend to make our home sound like we're ready for take off any second! :) While it has been hot, we've still had a lot of fun. Luke is becoming quite the fish and gaining lots of confidence learning to swim-he puts his head under water and kicks 3-4 times. The evenings cool down and are extremely pleasant with a consistent breeze. They call it the "Delta Breeze."

Folsom Lake

These 4 are quite the crew. They have grown to be great buddies in a short amount of time. 

We love the Lee family!

Sacramento

…Or actually, Lincoln. Lincoln is a suburb of Sacramento where we bought our home. The drive was long, especially with sick kids, but all things considered-I won't ever do it again. I joke. Hopefully, we won't need to drive that distance for awhile. We crashed that night at 'The Holiday Inn' where it sounded like our neighbors were having quite the illegal holiday, but the kids slept through everything, hallelujah. Making memories. The next day we closed on our house. Our realtor brought donuts, drinks and toys for our kids to play with while we signed the bajillion papers. It gets better, she then proceeded to play and entertain our children during the entire thing. Realtors will do anything to get that check! :)

As we're discovering, things are done "differently" in California at times. Closing on a home is one of those things. Once all the papers are signed and money is in the account, you still don't get the key. There's a bunch of legal shtuff that happens and then you receive your key in the next few days. Cue the slight problem that the semi-truck with all of our boxes and furniture is currently outside our home. Luckily, Bryan is an amazing guy and we received the key a few hours later (bot-a-boom, bot-a-bing). He is good.

Precious cargo!

I think all of our boxes are unpacked. We're starting to get pictures on the wall. I'm feeling more and more settled. I really like our home-I never saw it in person prior to buying it. Bryan chose wisely. I joked around about the word "adventure" being used with us moving to California. Well, it couldn't be more true.  I saw this quote and thought it was very timely,  "The only difference between an ordeal and an adventure is your attitude." For the most part, life has been an adventure the past few months. :)

More to come from California!

Stop #2

We made it to Boise, just in time for my antibiotics to kick in with some bronchitis/sinusitis junk and another member of the family to get sick! Don't ya just love when family comes to visit (with all of our germs)?!? Despite half of us being under the weather, we still had a nice visit. Luke and Emma are still talking about playing with their cousins.

Enjoyed (well, for the most part) on free-fishing Saturday. I was impressed with the fish and game guys-they had fishing poles, bait and lots of pointers for everyone to use.

However, who needs the fish and game "experts" when you have lady luck on your side? 

We enjoyed a delicious dinner and great company on Father's Day. 

4 generations. What great examples Luke has to follow.

Fun grandpa taking kids on 4-wheeler rides.

Grandma and Grandpa gave Emma some extra snuggles with her double ear infection to help her feel better. That is the ONE perk of a sick kid, extra snuggle time.

We had an amazing time visiting family. After dealing with quite a bit of sickness, we thought it might be best to take our germs and hit the road!

Sacramento or bust!

1st STOP

We got in to my parents' place at 2 AM.  Other than a really late night, the road trip went great. It's helpful when the kids sleep for more than 50% of total time in the car.

We went up to a nearby campground one evening. We played in the creek, roasted marshmallows and hot dogs, went on nature hikes and had a great time!

Ben, Mindi, Chan, Peyt and Madi joined in on the fun. We were glad they made it, especially after their busy day filled with baseball games!

Went to a Dinosaur Park in Ogden. I was really impressed with this park.

If dinosaurs were still around, we discovered what would cause them to go extinct.

Fed the ducks and fish.

They gave out cute dinosaur field books that Emma used to keep track of her dino adventures.

Probably the biggest hit was becoming paleontologists for the morning.

We visited "the farm" and said hello to Grandma Munns. We managed to use the butterfly nets and actually caught a few. Have you tried to catch a butterfly? It's harder than I thought! Luke and Emma found a few of their favorite things while visiting the farm. Luke-tractor rides with Uncle Monte.

Emma LOVES dogs-and this dog is one of the best. I love the farm.

 
Checked out the train car at the Brigham City Depot. We couldn't figure out a way around the steel locks so we checked things out from the outside.

Bryan spent most of the week in California working. He flew back Thursday night, and we drove up Friday to Boise for more fun there.

That's All Folks!

June 6th was the big moving day. They packed everything the day before and on the 6th, they loaded it. No, we didn't fill the entire truck, but it does give me something to aim for.

Elizabeth watched Luke and Emma for hours to help us out (even when they had pink eye!). I can't thank her enough! You can send me your  medical bills if anyone caught it. 

As we pulled away that evening to begin our "adventure" to California via Utah and Idaho, this kid didn't last 10 minutes. It was emotionally and physically exhausting for all involved. :)

Just a Few More Things

There were 9 days after the send off party before we would be packing up so we decided to cram as much fun as we could into those remaining days.

Denver Zoo with Cramers.

Deckers with McCrackens, Coppins and Lees.

Smores with Salleys.

 Bryan's Baseball game. Luke is his #1 fan. 

 Shouting words of encouragement. 

Hit up the neighborhood pool.

Went on the muddiest bike ride with just the kids. What was I thinking???

It didn't help when I became stuck to keep pedaling. The only thing that accomplished was flipping massive amounts of mud on my kids. They thought that part was hilarious, me too.

Luckily, Bryan and a good samaritan passing by were able to get us out of the mud. One for the books.

All of the doctors, nurses and receptionists that I worked with at the clinic sent me off with such kindness. 

Lastly, we managed to squeeze one more date night in at the Denver Temple. 

All of the craziness associated with packing all the above in was worth every minute.